Albuquerque home owned by Olympians on the market for $3.8 million

Buyers looking for real estate gold could find their winning address at 8504 Snakedance NE, an Olympians’ retreat on the market in Albuquerque.

The 8,700-square-foot home, owned by Albuquerque resident and 1988 U.S. Olympian Trish Porter Topmiller, was listed for nearly $4 million in early August but dropped to $3.8 million in late October.

The two-story home offers four bedrooms and eight bathrooms, sitting on more than two acres within High Desert, a master-planned community nestled at the base of the Sandia Mountains.

The uniqueness of the home recently garnered attention from a popular social media page called “Zillow Gone Wild,” which features the most extravagant or unusual homes listed on the real estate platform.

“I’ve been excited about this listing since the first time I walked in the doors,” said Thomas Gallegos, a broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New Mexico Properties and the home’s listing agent. “You can see the love and care that was put into it.”

Porter Topmiller and her late husband, Pat Porter, custom-built the home in 2008, nearly 10 years after purchasing the plot of land.

“We just thought it was absolutely beautiful,” Porter Topmiller said. “It was an incredible piece of property.”

The pair moved from Alamosa, Colorado, to Albuquerque in 1994. Porter, a two-time Olympic long-distance runner in 1984 and 1988, was training in Colorado when one day he told Porter Topmiller he was tired of the cold and wanted to train in warm Albuquerque weather.

Porter Topmiller made her 1988 Olympic debut in the sport of high jumping and is also a high jump world record holder for women aged 40 to 44. More recently, Porter Topmiller became an award-winning author of two nonfiction books about her life and Christian faith.

The Olympian couple spent three years constructing the home, intentionally designed parallel to the Sandia Mountains and filled with large windows.

“Every room on the east side has mountain views and on the other side, we’ve got all the city light views,” Porter Topmiller said. “That was really my vision — maximizing unobstructed views.”

A handcrafted feel was also a part of the vision. All of the walls are adorned with hand-applied plaster by Santa Fe plaster specialist Frank D’Angelico and the colorful, artsy front door was designed by Colorado artists Kristin and Marc DeSantis.

“The front door is literally a work of art,” said Porter Topmiller, who described the overall personality of the home as happy, fun, whimsical and peaceful.

While many of Porter Topmiller’s memories of building and living in the high desert home are joyful ones — including watching her children play with all the neighborhood kids in the dirt-filled basement dug out during the construction process — the home came with a more painful season as well.

In 2012, Porter and the pair’s 15-year-old son, Connor Porter, and his 14-year-old friend, Connor Mantsch, died when Porter’s private plane crashed upon takeoff in Sedona, Arizona, Porter Topmiller said.

Years later, Porter Topmiller remarried to James Topmiller, and after nearly a decade, the pair decided it was time to downsize to another Albuquerque home they could tailor to their chapter together.

“It was a very, very hard decision because to me, it is the prettiest property in New Mexico and Albuquerque,” Porter Topmiller said. “But it’s a big home, so we downsized and went to one level.”

Porter Topmiller said she’d love to see a family purchase the home, which offers an outdoor trampoline, hot tub and pool with a diving board and custom water features, as well as an indoor movie theater with a custom starry night ceiling.

“This home offered me a lot of joy and fun and a lot of wonderful times, so I hope it can offer somebody else the same thing and a lot of peace,” Porter Topmiller said.

Snakedance home